Editing Dendritic cell (section)

=== Viral infection ===
[[HIV]], which causes [[AIDS]], can bind to dendritic cells via various receptors expressed on the cell. The best studied example is [[DC-SIGN]] (usually on MDC subset 1, but also on other subsets under certain conditions; since not all dendritic cell subsets express DC-SIGN, its exact role in sexual HIV-1 transmission is not clear){{Citation needed|date=February 2011}}. When the dendritic cell takes up HIV and then travels to the lymph node, the virus can be transferred to helper CD4+ T-cells,<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Cavrois M, Neidleman J, Kreisberg JF, Greene WC |title=In Vitro Derived Dendritic Cells trans-Infect CD4 T Cells Primarily with Surface-Bound HIV-1 Virions  |journal=PLOS Pathogens |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=e4 |year=2007 |doi=10.1371/journal.ppat.0030004 |pmid=17238285 |pmc=1779297 |doi-access=free }}</ref> contributing to the developing infection. This infection of dendritic cells by HIV explains one mechanism by which the virus could persist after prolonged [[Antiretroviral drug|HAART]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}}

Many other viruses, such as the [[SARS]] virus, seem to use DC-SIGN to 'hitchhike' to its target cells.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Yang, Zhi-Yong|title=pH-Dependent Entry of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Is Mediated by the Spike Glycoprotein and Enhanced by Dendritic Cell Transfer through DC-SIGN |journal=[[Journal of Virology|J. Virol.]] |volume=78 |issue=11 |pages=5642–50 |year=2004 |pmid=15140961 |doi=10.1128/JVI.78.11.5642-5650.2004 |pmc=415834|display-authors=etal}}</ref> However, most work with virus binding to DC-SIGN expressing cells has been conducted using in vitro derived cells such as moDCs.  The physiological role of DC-SIGN in vivo is more difficult to ascertain.